Nardock was the descendant of the survivors of the Ruined City, though that is not what he was taught to call it. He had thick black hair and his body was tanned and muscled. What he and his parents, and their parents were told was that it was once called Daldabor. They survived because they moved to an underground extension of the city, and only came up to the surface for supplies and food. Though, to Fate, life was beginning to get too easy for the survivors and their children, for a plague hit the survivors of Daldabor. Now there are few of the descendants left. Of those few, Nardock was the only one who had decided to live on the surface in the ruins of the city Daldabor. The reason for this decision was because New Daldabor, as the underground city was called, held many memories that Nardock would rather not be reminded of. Nardock was tending to his garden when he noticed a silhouette of a man on the hilltop. He remembered all the scary stories he had heard as a child about the surface dwellers and hid his things. When he was done hiding his stuff, he belted his sword and slung his bow over his shoulder.

Jerry, who was tall, wiry, and blonde, sat and wondered what it was like to have lived in the ruins of the city when its power had been at its peak.  Before he could finish this thought he noticed a slight movement coming from the streets of the Ruined City, which was below the hill he was camped on. He picked up his weapons and quickly, silently, moved to investigate, as he did so the words bandits and thieves bounced around his head.

Jerry held his sword in a battle ready position as he entered the Ruined City. When he was finally in the city he had the feeling that he was being watched. He searched every building as he made his way to the street that he had seen the movement in. As he entered the targeted street he saw that it was wide open and lined with overgrown apple trees. His earlier feeling of being watched intensified. His instincts were screaming that he should duck for cover, and he always trusted his instincts so he ducked behind a fallen apple tree. An arrow flew through the space where his chest had been moments before. Jerry acted quickly and threw his knife in the direction that the arrow had come from. A very loud “argh” came from the tree that Jerry had thrown his knife at of which a loud thud came after, followed by a grunt of pain.

Jerry put up his sword and readied his crossbow, which was already fitted with an arrow, and then pointed it at the man who fell from the tree. “As you can see I’m a pretty good judge of distance, so I’d put up my weapons if I were you,” said Jerry with a chuckle. The man hesitated for a moment then, with great reluctance, he complied and threw his sword and bow to the side. “What do ya want,” the man said with obvious venom. “I want to know who you are and why you are in this city” replied Jerry, “let’s start with your name, eh?”

“My name is Nardock,” replied the man, “and to answer the second request, I live here.”

 “Oh really, and what if I don’t believe you, Nardock,” said Jerry.

“You don’t have to,” countered Nardock, “but I’m not going to prove anything to you.”

“Well, well, well, you’ve either got guts or you are just plain stupid giving your captor lip,” Jerry chuckled, “I’m starting to like you. How about I let you prove it by showing me your ‘home’ and I’ll tend to that knife wound there.   Do we have a deal?” Jerry put his crossbow down and held out a hand.

Nardock sat there looking as if in deep thought and continued that for a little bit before answering, “How do I know this is not a trick?” Jerry replied with a smirk, “Paranoia eh? That’s a good thing to have, but I promise to behave myself”

Nardock reluctantly said, “Alright, I’ll do it but only because I can’t get home with this wound by myself.” Nardock took Jerry’s outstretched hand. Jerry helped Nardock up and stretched the man’s hand over his shoulder. “Okay now tell me which way to go” Jerry said as they walked off towards the western side of the city. Nardock replied with a chuckle, “Let’s start by going the opposite direction.”

When they got to his place, Nardock was exhausted. As he was trying to catch his breath he thought, I knew that an injury like this would be painful, but I never thought that it would make me this tired . He wondered why he agreed to his captor’s condition when he didn’t even know the man’s name. When he thought about it he remembered why he even considered it. It was because his captor looked, for all of Daldabor, like a trustworthy man.

As he watched his captor tear a linen cloth into shreds he decided that he’d ask what the man’s name was. “Do you have a name?” Nardock asked warily so as to not offend his captor. The man was silent for a while and then answered “Yes, of course.” “What is it then?” Nardock exasperatedly asked. “I’m called Jerry, my real name is Jerrilisk but I hate it so please, call me Jerry,” replied Jerry, “Now brace yourself.” Jerry came over with hot water and a pulp like substance that was a sickly green color and smell even worse than it looked. “What is that?” Nardock said with a look of unease on his face. Jerry laughed and said, “It’s called Imeras, it’s a medicinal herb, not very pleasant but it disinfects the wound, has natural healing agents in it,and it works; so it’s good enough for me,”

Nardock was still wary but nodded for Jerry to continue. As Jerry dressed the wound he asked, “What made you decide to live in the Ruined City?” Nardock looked at him with wonder and a hint of amusement, “My people’s ancestors lived in this city in its heyday. It was once called Daldabor, and it was a wonderful city. I could tell you the names of the towers and where the palace is. My ancestors built a city underneath this city; it was a project that was meant for more residencies in its limits but something happened that made them put the current residents underground. The city underground still has some people living there but there are few of my people left, and…” Nardock trailed off with a pained look. Jerry noticed and pushed no further, a man’s past is his business, he had thought. They sat in silence for a long while then Jerry broke it by asking Nardock, “Hey why don’t you show me the things you talked about that’s in Daldabor rather than tell me about where they are? I would love to see them even if they aren’t what they used to be, and I’m willing to listen to your descriptions of what they looked like when they were still intact.” Nardock looked at him, grateful for the change in topic and said, “Yeah that would be nice I guess. After I heal up I’ll show you the Palace first.”

Jerry sat and wondered about the man that sat in front of him when he heard Nardock’s stomach growl. Jerry smiled and said, “Getting wounded makes one hungry, doesn’t it?” Nardock laughed, “Yup, sure does.”

“So where do you keep the food?” asked Jerry. 

“There should be a trap door under that rug beside my bed,” replied Nardock, “it leads to the cellar that I use for storage.” Jerry removed the rug that Nardock had mentioned and opened the trapdoor. When he got to the cellar room he found not only food but spices, medicinal herbs, leather, fabric, weapons, armor, scrolls, tomes, journals and anything that had at least a little use. He rummaged for the food and spices he needed and headed back up the stairs. Jerry started the fire and prepared the meal he had in mind. As he cooked he commented on what he found in the cellar, “That’s quite the store room you got there Nardock.” 

Nardock looked up at him and said, “Ya never know what will happen.” 

Jerry chuckled, “That’s very true, but where did you find it all?” 

Nardock said, “I found this building when I first came to the surface the roof had collapsed inward and most of it was on top of that trap door there, so bandits never touched the building or its contents. I took the time to remove most of it, because it is very much like us to build extensions under our homes for storage or extra living space. I was halfway through when I saw part of the trap door. When I saw it I got excited and I started right away at trying to clear the debris off the trap door. When I was finished I opened the door and found tools, food, crops, weapons, and armor. I’m glad that I did find this building, for I would not have made it on the surface as long as I have.” 

“But what about all the scrolls and tomes and journals?” Asked Jerry.

“I found most of the journals in the Guard Towers and the scrolls and tomes I got from the Palace Library,” answered Nardock.

“Wait didn’t you say that bandits came around here?” asked Jerry

“Yeah, why?”

“Then how did you get so many of them intact?”

“There is more to us Daldaborians than one might think. We always prepare fail safes,” Nardock said with a chuckle, “we had many great magic users at one time and our important buildings were embedded with spells of preservation and doors were locked with both key and password.”

Jerry looked at his new companion with both surprise and awe at the man’s testimony. He then said, “Are there any magic users left or even those who are magically inclined”

Nardock looked at Jerry, “Of that level of power, no. But we have magic users that can heal.” 

“Well maybe one, but no one knows much about him but me.” Nardock amended himself

“Why?” asked Jerry

“I made it my business to find out and found out I did,” Nardock said ending the conversation, thinking that Jerry shouldn’t know the truth of the matter quite yet.

Nardock stared off for a minute or two and then spoke again, “Those very fail safes were probably this city’s downfall.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“What makes you say that?” asked Jerry

“Well there is always a rat in the house,” replies Nardock, “and with them disaster follows. Though I suspect the original intentions for the underground city was that if there was a disaster that it would be used as it’s used now, and if there wasn’t a disaster, what they had told the public would come true.”

“That’s an interesting theory you came up with,” said Jerry, “and from what you have told me about your people, it seems to be a plausible one at that.” Jerry sat there as if in deep thought for some time, until he yawned and got up and said, “ Well I’m tired I think I’ll go to bed.” Nardock looked at him and replied “Alright I’ll clean up the dishes.”

That night, as the moon was reaching its peak, a loud cracking sound, like the sound of stone breaking, resonated throughout the city. The sound stopped for a moment and then a loud booming sound shook the house. Jerry woke up with a start, unsheathing his dagger. The sound of metal scraping on metal woke Nardock and he looked at his companion and saw the dagger reflecting the moonlight.

Concerned, Nardock asked, “ What’s wrong?” Jerry replied with, “ There was a loud booming sound like that of an explosion.” Nardock burst into laughter, “That was only a building falling” he said when his laughter finally reduced to a bubbling mirth. “Oh, well uh i'll just go back to sleep,” Jerry said with embarrassment. Nardock, still chuckling, replied, “Yeah, you do that.”

  The next morning they started to pack their necessities for the trip up to the palace. As they walked down a path they came across the building that fell the night before. What was intact of the building had red and blue lines with a green background and gold foil in places. Nardock decided to rummage through the rubble for anything of use. “Hey Jerry,” he said, “ come over here and help me with this.”

“ Your wound isn’t healed enough to move that stuff,” Jerry complained, “plus we’re supposed to…”

“Just do it,” said Nardock

Jerry sighed and decided to humor his odd companion. He walked and picked up the bigger pieces of the building. They labored over the rubble of the building until they had most of the room clear. The two of them looked around the room for anything that had survived the avalanche of stone and wood. Jerry pointed at a cellar door and said, “ I wonder what’s in there.”

Nardock had an impish smile as he replied “ Only one way to find out,” and with his good arm, he used his battle-ax to break down the door. Jerry shook his head in exasperation thinking about how crazy his short friend was. When the door broke, a stench rushed up from the cellar. They looked at each other and nodded in silent agreement, Jerry unsheathed his sword and went down the stairs first. When Jerry reached the bottom of the stairs, the first thing he noticed was the stench, the second thing was that there was a dim light, and the last was the creature. It was a lumpy mixture of rotting flesh and living organs. When it noticed Jerry’s presence, it turned around and tried to attack him, but was yanked back by chains. It glares at the chains for a moment and then smiles or at least that’s what Jerry thought it was doing. "Well I finally have a guest” It spoke in a groveling voice and a massive stench rolled from its mouth, “ I’m so hungry I haven’t had a meal in hundreds of years and you smell and look so appetizing, why don’t you come a little closer?”

Jerry laughed at both its stupidity and at its pitiful state, “ I don’t think so,” he says. The creature flinched at the authority in Jerry’s voice and spoke more carefully, “ well can you at least feed me then?” Jerry stood there as he thought about what to do. He finally decides to throw the whole bag of meat at the creature out of pity.

The creature ate with surprising grace and mannerism. The creature looks up at Jerry with gratitude written on its face. Jerry stared in wonder, as the creature looked less like a corpse and more like a man. The man/creature smiled and said “ My kind have been called many things from vampires to zombies and more commonly, revenant but none of those names are important. What is important is that you saved my life and that is something I won’t forget. Oh and I almost forgot, my name is Ryon.”

Nardock had finally made it down to the bottom of the stairs and when he saw Ryon he paled. He tapped Jerry's shoulder and waited till he turned around. When Jerry did Nardock whispered to him, “Uh Jerry, that’s a revenant, which is the creation of necromancy weather it was the necromancer themselves, some unfortunate person the necromancer came across, or the unholy mixture of corpses in the attempt to create immortality, though what is made is not really immortality.”

“He told me that his name was Ryon,” Jerry said.  When he said that the color slowly flushed back into Nardock’s skin. “Oh,” he said to Ryon, “ you told him your name.” Ryon nodded and said, “ Of course I did, He saved my life after all. If he had not fed me I would have turned into a big pile of dust.”

Jerry looked at them both, “ What is so important about a revenant’s name?” he asks. Ryon looks at Nardock, both he and Ryon, “ Names are powerful things,” they both reply, “ When a creature of mythical or magical origins willingly gives their name it is a sure sign they trust you with their lives.”

  “First of all,” Ryon said, “ I was once human and second of all I did this to myself. I would never try this on anyone nor would I create what I am from corpses. Sure I may be a necromancer but that doesn’t mean that I’m fine with using either of them as experiments. I just so happen to be one of the nicer ones.” 

“Oh great you heard me” muttered Nardock.

“Well of course, i am technically a magical creature after all” answered Ryon

Jerry thought upon the consequences of freeing Ryon for a while. As he was thinking, Nardock decided to interrogate the revenant. “ How long have you been in here exactly?”

“Well long enough to almost die.”

“In years Mr. Sarcastic,” said Nardock.

“Uh, it’s got to be at least a thousand years give or take a little,” replied Ryon.

Ryon looked at both men and saw their confused faces, so he explained. “ Sacrifices from the bandits and nomadic tribes kept me alive for a while and before that this was my house when the city was still standing.”

This peaked Nardock’s interest so he asked “So what happened to the city?”

Ryon answered “To make a very long story very, very, short, war is what happened to the city, there was an empire that despised us and got to some of our citizens that were sympathetic to their cause. They used those sympathizers as spies and the city fell to their hands. They offered to spare our city if we complied with their demands. Those demands were to give allegiance to them and only them. The King refused and the city was destroyed, not a person on the surface was spared, but it seems the plan to hide our people underground worked.” 

Nardock, shocked, said “ You knew about that?!”

Ryon answered “ Of course I did, I was a part of the council and was one of the first to approve of it.” 

Bewildered, Nardock started asking Ryon many questions. Those questions ranged from asking how the market looked on a busy day to how the palace courtyard garden looked in spring. As Jerry waited patiently at the stairs he heard footsteps. The footsteps indicated that there was a group of people and that they were walking towards the house. 

“Uh guys I'd hate to break up this budding friendship, but we’ve got company”

Nardock tossed a dagger to Ryon and unsheathed his sword. Jerry cocked his crossbow and also unsheathed his sword. Ryon shielded himself with wards and prepared some spells to use. Suddenly The footsteps stopped at the top of the stairs. They started again and with them the angry voices of men carried down the stairs as they got closer to the cellar. When the men came down in the pale light of the cellar the three companions noticed there were five people. When Jerry looked at the leader's face, his own hardened. The leader noticed Nardock first but as he went around the room he eyes finally fell on Jerry. The leader had a face of mild amusement. “Well, well what do we have here?” said the Leader, “We found the rat after we thought he was long dead. What are you doing in the din of a flesh eater, Jerrilisk.” 

Nardock looks at his companion with a confused look. “Who….”.  Then he noticed the look on Jerry’s face and went silent. Ryon noticed this too and decided to be silent. The thought, Negotiations just flew out the window, ran through both Ryon’s and Nardock’s minds as they noticed the tension created between Jerry and the other group of men.

Jerry through clenched teeth said, “ Well, Joreell, we were curious as to what was in this cellar what I found was a half dead revenant and pitied his state and decided to give some of our meat supplies,”

Joreel chuckled and said, “ Hey boys, Jerrilisk has got himself a pet now, ” the rest of Jarrell's men laughed. 

Filled with Rage from the direct  insult that was aimed at him and the indirect one aimed at his new companion,  Ryon began mumbling words of power. The ground rumbled as the incantation came to an end, and then hands of rotted flesh grabbed Joreell and his men’s ankles with the strength of steel clamps. 

“With a single word I can end this insolent fool for you,” Ryon said with a murderous glint in his eye. 

Jerry shook his head and said “No I will not be the cause of the death of a family member just remove their weapons and bind them.” 

Both Nardock and Ryon look at him with a puzzled look. In response he said “ I’ll talk about it later”

After shrugging apologetically, Ryon reluctantly did as he was told. That, however, did not mean he was gentle about it. By the time he was done, Joreel and his men had a collection of bruises and abrasions. The trio then left the cellar where Jerry left Joreell’s weapons at the entrance. The other men’s weapons were left in the neighboring building. Nardock then led the other two through the ruins weaving in and out of allies so as to avoid both running into other unfriendly travelers, and being followed by Joreell. They reached the palace entrance that evening. The Palace was an exemplary piece of arches, towers, and spires. There was a covered Pavilion, which was held up by gold gilded pillars carved with runes and pictures of knights and drakes, leading up to the entrance. At the entrance there were two Metal statues of Knights on both sides of the door. One Knight was Golden and had a silver pike and shield, and the other was Silver with a gold broadsword and shield. Each had matching armor and sapphire eyes. The Door was made of white marble and split in the middle, and it had gold runes arcing across the top of it

“In the common tongue they are called The Twins, but in our tongue, the language of the daldaborians, we called them Al Havarith Merithal ,” said Nardock, “ Or The Mirrored Guardians.”

When the trio got close to them, the Al Havarith Merithal stirred and moved to block the door,  and in metallic voices said, “ Val Fae Al Havarith Merithal. Harl fae maeli av Gorith Hyvilor elnor al Akumnaeor?”

Nardock replied with, “ Oet Lae Nardock Reeden Norl né al faeren Norlheim Jaheer Reeden; Nav riviz fae aet nelforith”

“What did they say?” Jerry ask Ryon

“The Twins said, ‘We Are The Mirrored Guardians. Who are you to seek passage into the Star Palace?’ then Nardock replied with, ‘I am Nardock Reeden, son of the Last Prince, Jaheer Reeden; and these are my guests’.”

“Oh…”said Jerry 

“Norna Borlheim Nardock” said the Twins in unison 

“Enter King Nardock” translated Ryon, awe coloring his voice